WWE Legend Believes Randy Orton Turning On Cody Rhodes Was Spark That The Story Needed
Randy Orton turning on his good friend Cody Rhodes was a needed move, according to a legendary WWE superstar.
When WWE decided to have Cody Rhodes defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Elimination Chamber match winner Randy Orton at WrestleMania 42, many people accepted it as a big match between two WWE legends.
On the March 13th SmackDown episode, the story changed dramatically during the contract signing when Randy Orton attacked Cody Rhodes, bloodied him, and ended the segment.
A week later, Randy Orton explained on SmackDown in Raleigh that he did what he did because it’s the best version of himself and that he wants to become a 15-time World Champion. Orton also attacked Rhodes’ good friend Matt Cardona twice and stomped on a chair on Cardona’s left arm.
Matt Hardy is a TNA wrestler and a WWE legend who knows Orton and Rhodes well. While speaking on his Extreme Life Of Matt Hardy podcast, Hardy talked about how Orton brutalizing Rhodes was the spark that the WrestleMania 42 match needed.
“I like the angle with Cody and Randy, because I felt like we needed something. It was a WrestleMania match, and they really needed some sort of spark to try and make a white-hot reason to be invested in this match.
The fact that Randy turned heel, people like Randy as a hee. Randy is great as a heel. He got vicious; they have a history. And they really made it look and feel personal. I think it is the spark that was needed for the WrestleMania matchup.”
WWE Likely Has Multiple Ideas For Future Of Cody Rhodes-Randy Orton Rivalry
As he continued, Matt Hardy talked about how WWE could even consider doing a double turn (Cody going heel, Orton going face again) in the match, but he wasn’t necessarily predicting that would happen.
“You are going to have a lot of people in the building that are going to be cheering for Cody, obviously. But I feel like you could also create an environment where you could do almost a perfect double turn if you chose to do such as well. They might even have a couple of different game plans. They might have an A plan and a B plan, maybe even a C plan for this match.
I am not suggesting they are going to do that. I am just saying that it is something that could be a possibility there, especially if there is a lot of blowback or repercussion to Cody in general being the champion going in.” (H/T 411Mania)
The next WWE PLE is WrestleMania 42 on April 18 & April 19 in Las Vegas. Here’s the lineup so far:
- WWE World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk (c) vs. Roman Reigns
- WWE Undisputed Championship: Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Randy Orton
- WWE Women’s World Championship: Stephanie Vaquer (c) vs. Liv Morgan
- WWE Women’s Championship: Jade Cargill (c) vs. Rhea Ripley
- Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar
There will be more matches added in the weeks ahead.
WrestleMania 42 will STREAM LIVE Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19, 2026, at 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT on ESPN in the United States and Netflix everywhere else.